Cindy Crawford on her career, her kids and Amal Clooney

The icon sits down for Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis in New York

The only thing more captivating than a photograph of Cindy Crawford is hearing the supermodel herself share candid stories from her illustrious career. Last night, Crawford was the latest fashion insider to sit down for Fern Mallis's Fashion Icons series at 92Y. "Modelling is just my job, it's not who I am," Crawford said – and she's certainly got the stories and experience to back that statement up. From working with the industry's most iconic photographers to her brief marriage to Richard Gere and close friendship with the Clooneys, Crawford has lived a life beyond being one of the most recognisable models of our time. Last night, to celebrate a brand new book, Becoming by Cindy Crawford, she shared the best advice gleaned along the way – especially for aspiring models, including her 14-year-old daughter, Kaia Gerber—and revealed what's next in her career. Read some of her best quotes from the evening below:

On developing her work ethic: "I had a lot of jobs as a kid to understand the value of a dollar. I started out as a babysitter with my sister. We each charged 50 cents an hour, so if I babysat for four hours I would get two whole dollars. Then I worked in a clothing store – my job was to refold all the sweaters that people would mess up. I also had to dust all the shirts; I guess there wasn't a big turnover in that store."

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On being photographed for the first time: "Everyone says I was discovered in a cornfield but not exactly... Well, I was actually working in a cornfield and there was this one photographer working in our town – he shot things like football games, town events, you know, he was the town photographer – and he also did something called 'the co-ed of the week', which highlighted college girls in the local newspaper and he asked me to do it. My parents were like 'absolutely not, who is this creeper?' but then he called my parents and invited them to come on the shoot and then he took my first pictures ever for that newspaper."

On being discovered:"The Midwest Hair Show was looking for models... it was one of those shows where the hairdressers could do any hairstyle they wanted on you and then you got $200. So I was selected to do it in Chicago… While I was backstage, the hairdressers and makeup artists said to me 'you really should think about being a model' and these were real New York City hairdressers – this was different than your grandma saying you were cute – this actually meant something. After that, I decided to go to a model casting in Chicago."

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On her iconic mole:"At my first agency, they said they like me but 'you should really think about getting rid of that mole.' I said: 'See, mom!' My mother was smart and her advice was you can remove it if you want, but you might want to consider what the scar could look like, because that could be worse than the mole itself. My sisters would say, 'If it's on the right it's a beauty mark, if it's on the left it's an ugly mark.'"

On the art of modelling:"Even if it's a cup you have to think, 'I'm gonna make this cup look really good.' You have to understand the clothes, you can't just look at them and put them on. Your job as a model is to tell that story of the clothes. In my opinion nobody does that better than Iman – I learned a lot from watching her."

On how the Nineties supers changed modelling:"Before us, there were the great runway models and the great print models and they were kept completely separate. I think Gianni Versace was the one who decided he wanted his print models to also walk the runway."

On posing nude for Playboy:"I think what scared me about Playboy was the connotation of Playboy – I ​know​ everyone only reads it for the articles [laughs] – and I was worried it was going to keep me from some of the fashion things I wanted to do. So I wanted Herb [Ritts] to photograph it and I wanted complete control."

On her wedding to Richard Gere:"I was a Midwest girl who had watched a lot of movies and I dreamed of getting married in this big fairy-tale wedding. We had been dating a couple of years and I kept asking when we could get married and finally he was like, 'okay, we're going to Vegas tonight.' It was the Little Chapel of the West. Herb Ritts was my bridesmaid and photographer, actually. Richard was trying to give me what I wanted… I wore an Armani suit but I didn't dream of getting married in a navy suit. And I didn't even have a blowout! I had a ring that was made out of tinfoil because it was so last minute."

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On why things didn't work with Richard Gere: "There wasn't a good power balance there and that was my fault because I gave all my power away to him. I was also just too young and still a kid, I don't think I was the adult version of myself yet, I was 23 years old and I thought I was an adult because I had some success and money… He was in a different chapter of his life."

On meeting husband Rande Gerber: "We met at my agent's wedding. When I met him I was still with Richard and he didn't want to go to the wedding with me… Rande also had a girlfriend at the time so he wasn't looking to meet anyone either and that's the best time to meet someone because that's when you're truly yourselves. We became friends and after Richard and I broke up we started dating."

On her wedding to Rande Gerber: "I wore John Galliano off the rack because the wedding was supposed to be secret. We married in the Bahamas in front of our friends and family and it was so special – it was different for my second wedding. We walked each other down the aisle."

On being friends with Amal Clooney: "Amal is smart, she is obviously beautiful, but the thing that impressed me the most about her is that she's not only completely interesting but she's also interested – she's always asking you questions, she has asked me questions about the fashion world – it's easy to be friends with someone like that who is very interested."

On her advice for her daughter Kaia: "Right now I'm telling her, 'You have time, enjoy being a kid!' But if Bruce Weber wants to shoot your kids, I'm no fool, I said yes. I can help guide them through it all now – I'm trying to hold her back but give her a taste of the modelling world. She aspires to be a Victoria's Secret model, which is funny because in my generation that wasn't exactly the pinnacle, but today those are the girls with huge social-media followings and it's different… I don't know how happy her dad is about that."

On what her kids have taught her: "Having kids changes your life in every way – in ways you didn't think possible before you have kids. They teach me how to not abuse Instagram, they're like, 'too many hashtags, Mom!' They taught me how strong I am. I had both my kids at home with a midwife. I felt so strong and I trusted my body. Yeah, I posed for Playboy but after giving birth and feeding a baby you're like, 'Wow, my body is amazing.'"

On being in Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' video:"Taylor called me to ask me to be part of the video and I really liked the concept because there is so much perception that older women resent younger women, but this role was a way of saying 'welcome to the club'. And my title was 'Headmistress', so I was like, 'Yes, I'm doing this'. My kids thought I was very cool."

On whether she would get plastic surgery:"I always said I would never do anything – that was when I was 25. It's hard because part of you says: 'Okay, well I just want to go natural', but now it's just a part of our society where so many people are doing it. But then you see some people that are scary and you're like, 'Oh, I don't want to turn out like that' – is it better to just look old? I'm still trying to figure out where I personally draw my line."

On what she would tell her younger self:"We all are insecure at times and we all feel like we don't belong at times, and I wish that I would have realised that someone else at the table was feeling that same way too... I think I would have taken advantage of a few more opportunities. Insecurity is a part of being human."

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